Farmer Julian White was red carded yesterday as the Leicester Tigers roared back to the top of the Guinness Premiership with a 37-31 win over Sale.

White, 35 years old and owning 250 sheep and a heard of cows on his Leicester farm, now faces a ban for his haymaker on England team mate Andrew Sheridan.

He will more than likely miss their crunch Heineken Cup quarter-final meeting with Bath next weekend because of his moment of madness.

Coming up from their fierce scrum battle, Sheridan and White came to blows, with the younger man throwing the first punch, a short left jab. White barely blinked though before decking the Sale powerhouse.

White was sent from the field with no hesitation by referee Wayne Barnes, with the Tigers being left with 14 men for the majority of this pulsating match. For them to come out victors is a true indication of the spirit in the camp right now.

The bonus point victory hoists Leicester to the top of the Guinness Premiership. They could be without White for some time though, which will be decided in a disciplinary hearing in the next few days.

Neither of them should have thrown any punches but Sheridan takes a cheap shot at White when they are coming up from the scrum then has a second go at him before White does anything therefore it seems a bit unfair that White should be punished and Sheridan not at all.Also, it should have only been a yellow card, not a red. Terrible decision making from the officials.

Pretty interesting call. It seems that White put a cheeky shove on after the whistle, sheridan than pushed his shirt and threw a jab that missed, with White landing the haymaker.The problem comes in the interpretation of the laws - "Punching or striking. A player must not strike an opponentwith the fist or arm, including the elbow, shoulder, head orknee". I can only assume Barnes saw the fact that sheridans punch did not connect and acted to the letter of the rules. Should have been at least a yellow.

Dont you know they always catch the retaliator, not the instigator? They both were pushing and shoving, but how White connected with Sheridan is he had a hold of Sheridans jersey and pulled him close enough to wack him. Take a look at his left hand pulling Sheridan in to clock him. You see it alot in hockey. The card was right for White, Sheridan should have got a yellow.

Yeah you are meant to go for punching, don't really see it because it will spoil the game. Glad to see it didn't happen this time, great game, would love to see the full highlights.Couldn't believe Sheridan got floored though, he was absolute irate for the rest of the game though. He needs a bit more fire in him to be honest.

I personally hate most of the English frontrowers, so this was amazing for me.Sheridan put on his arse, and White getting sent off.Fair play to White though, Some hit!Glad to see referee's acting accordingly for cheap shots, just a pity neither he nor the touchjudge spotted Sheridans antics.

It actually looked like white dodged sheridans punch before landing his very solidly while sheridan was slightly off balance and moving backwards. Still, handbags...shouldnt have been a red but those are the rules.Its what i always say after a forward punches me, they are just trying to compensate for having such small "firemen" lol

White is a terrific scrummager and he does that job better than anyone else bar Carl Hayman.The linesman (sorry, assistant referee) should have brought Sheridan's first punch to the referee's attention.

"jason white backed off when julian clenched his fist at him"Jason White is rarely involved in fights because he is not that sort of player.Some players jump at the chance for a opportunity to fight, others just think "im here to play rugby mate, piss off!"Jason White is the later, and that is one of the reasons he is so highly respected as a player and a person.p.s. Julian White seems like a twat on the park at least, wonder what he is like off it.

Jason white dose not jump back!! He moves his head back so if Julian White tried to hit him he would miss!! Julian White also thought about hitting Jason White then seen that it was him and that he would get floored by Jason!!

IS it me or julian white does nothing for rugby except throw the odd punch. Watch white for the tigers, lions and england. He's always spoiling for a fight, always wanting to get in a punch whether or not there's a need for it. There's a place in rugby for physicality and if that means shoves and punches then its a heat of the moment incident, but julian white does shit like this everygame and i think he needs a ban.

White beats sheridan in the scrumSheridan throws an uppercutSheridan throws a jabWhite knocks on Sheridan's nose like a doorSheridan stumbles overTouch judge is a fucking fool. Sheridan should have got a yellow for that, and at a stretch you'd give one to White as well for retaliation. Absolutley shocking decision to red White. And I'm no leicester fan btw.

"Pffft, you lot are so soft in the north. That'd be a yellow at worst in the south, probably just a penalty."Sheridan is from London and White is from Devon. Last time I checked they were both fairly southern

Julian White started the whole thing with the leg lift after the whistle. Any time a prop tries to lift an opponents leg he should have his head taken off. It is really very dangerous and some of the old school crap that they took out of the game for a reason.Sheridan should have hit him harder (or at all- what a soft punch) and taught him a lesson

"Julian White started the whole thing with the leg lift after the whistle."If you watch it again you'll see that sheridan pops his head up and slips his bind with his left hand. What he then does with his left hand under the scrum is classic frount row wind up play. Julian reacts by driving into him and lifting his leg then it all kicks off. Sheridan, like any experienced prop was wanting that reaction from white. Stupidly he reacted. but didn't bargin on getting floored in the process. for a 21st meat head like sheridan that's embarrasing!!! both deserved to be punished equally for the incedent wheather red, yellow or no cards.

both are idiots, sheridan should have been carded as well, the ref might as well have said "you thre a couple andy but missed so its ok" sheridan is getting good at throwing and missing, anyone remember him trying to take one of maori players head of on the last Lions tour?

What a bullshit decision. Sheridan threw the first punch - yellow card.White reacted - Reverse the penalty but no card.This wasn't dangerous whatsoever, and was a fair one-on-one exchange. That ref needs to man the fuck up.

After White was sent off, Castrogiovanni came on and the next scrum ended as well with a bit of a Front-Row "discussion", well great stuff how Sheridan left the pitch, after he was substituted later in that game.Why should Sheridan be carded? Normally the front-row stuff is hard to spot for a referee, he simply didnt get it so no card there. Stupid retaliation of White in front of the Match Officials.

Sheridan strikes me as the kind of guy that you could smack round the head with a spade and his brain wouldn't even register it.I can imagine Julian White having a very hard punch though.To those people saying he's shit and can't do anything, he's not great around the park but he's one of the best scrummagers in the world. If you play and know your rugby you should know how valuable a solid scrum is.

Andrew Sheridan is absolutely shit. He never reaches anywhere near his potential in the loose and he's pathetic in the scrum. He's still riding on the wave of destroying a frankly pathetic Australian pack 2 years ago while in fact he gets schooled in the scrum on an almost weekly basis - just like White was doing there. Can't really blame White for punching him after whatever Sheridan was up to in the scrum and after he tried to hit him to. Sweet punch it was as well. Footage of Sheridan getting abused by the tigers fans would be great - apparently it was epic.

Classic to see Sheridan land on his arse like that! red card was an over reaction though. Yellow for retaliation would have been suffice. Banning him from the next game would be pretty pathetic though. This isn't football.

White should indeed get equal or incremental punishment for connecting and for retaliating.However to not give Sheridan anything is shameful from Barnes.Fred D. -- you make the distinction of striking -- fair enough -- connecting means a card under that Law point. And I respect Barnes's "no option" statement.However, even if Sheridan didn't connect, referee has the latitude to penalize under "acts contrary to good sportsmanship". So IMHO, Barnes clearly has the Law to do as he wishes with Sheridan -- and to do nothing, whilst redding White is wrong.

Julian White is my neighbour and you couldnt meet a nicer chap. Sheridan threw first, missed, got decked and they say white is dirty.....Well done Mal o Kelly though. Tough as nails taking punishment from white and not hitting the deck like a trawlerman at open season like Sheridan

What I don't get is why the referee don't goes for advise from the video referee. The advise is a red from the TJ. However on video you clearly see who hits first. In case of cards, they should have gotten both the same.

yet the french throw more punches in a game than they throw passes and no cards....... i do understand that a game with each side having 14 men sent off would probably not be overly interesting but consistency has to happen somewhere!!!

To be fair Jason White merely moved is head to avoid getting caught flush should Julian wanted to throw - Jason had both arms around Julian so wouldn't have been able to parry any incoming punch! Also, Julian White could've hit him, he was in range, but clearly decided not to. Looked like a crap fight to me anyway - Sheridan wasn't hurt just knocked off balance.

sheridan would literally destroy white in a fight sheridan must have been caught of balance and fallen but if it was a real fight white would be out in a few seconds sheridan can bench press 33 stone so the force behind his true would probably knock white out cold